Ventilating spacer



Feb. 20, 1962 s. P. CRANE ETAL 3,022,063

VENTILATING SPACER Filed June 30, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS.Samuel Crane BY .Stephenlfen j ZTTORNEY Feb. 20, 1962 s. P. CRANE ETALVENTILATING SPACER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 30, 1959 A TTORNEYUnitedStates Patent Olice Y 3,022,053 Patented Feb. 20, 1962 3,022,953VENTILA'HNG SPACER Samuel P. Crane, Great Neck, and Stephen D. Kent,Newburgh, N.Y., assignors, by mesne assignments, t Alpha Research Corp.,New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed June 30, 1959, Ser. No.824,905

6 Claims. (Cl. 27-110) This invention relates to coiled wire inner unitsfor Ventilating spacers or cushions having two intersecting Sets ofsubstantially parallel coiled wire rows and to the manufacture thereof,and relates particularly to the winding of the rows on a border frameand the locking of the rows of coils together.

in the inner spring units here involved, one set of rows of generallycircular coils is arranged at right angles to a similar set of rows, andthe coils of the rows are interlocked by pressing the various coilslaterally together and tiattening the coils into generally ellipticalform. However, while flattening locks the rows together againstexcessive displacement, the coiled wire part of the unit does not becomestiff but even the locked rows are rather limp and can move to a limitedextent relatively to the border frame during handling and use.

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision not only of alock between intersecting rows but also of an additional lock occurringat random points where the uppermost or lowermost point or" the outerwire of two intersecting coils is in contact with the respectiveuppermost or lowermost point of the inner wire of the intersectingcoils, such additional lock comprising an indent in the inner wire inwhich indent the outer wire is received and held.

The invention further contemplates the formation of the indents at theabove mentioned random points of contact of intersecting coilssimultaneously with the flattening of the initially circular coils, theouter wires oi the intersecting coils being locked in the indents of theinner wires by the inherent resiliency of the inner wires which tend toexpand toward their initial circular form, and the outer surface of theresulting coiled structure being relatively level and free ofoutstanding wires especially at the intersections of the coils wherehard raised spots might otherwise be formed.

The invention further contemplates the use of the outer of any pair ofthe intersecting wires as a die for forming the indent in the inner ofthe wires, the material of the wires being of such nature that the coilsbecome permanently distorted into the desired shape simultaneously withthe formation of the indents, while the shape of the outer or die wireat the intersection is retained unchanged.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a wire unit so woundand shaped from a single length of coiled wire that none of the coilsproject outwardly beyoud the plane tangent to the majority of theoutermost points of the coils, the winding proceeding in the same rotarydirection or pitch as the pitch of the coils, the corner coil connectingperpendicular rows being distorted to prevent the connecting coil fromyielding and retaining an undesirable resilience in spite of theilattening operation, the distortion of the connecting coil alsopreventing it from resuming its initial position after its release fromthe ilattening pressure thereon and thereby preventing said coil fromprotruding unduly and fori1 ing a projecting lump on the um't.

'Ihe various objects of the invention will be clear from the descriptionwhich follows and from the drawings, in which:

FIG. l is a view of a typical seat or back spacer showing fragments ofthe rows of coiled wire of the inner unit and of the covering for theunit.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of intersecting coils showingthe indents in the inner coil made by the outer coil.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of the initially circular coilsat an intersection of the rows after the winding has been completed andjust as a attening operation in a press is begun.

FIG. 5 is a similar view showing the coils attencd and the formation ofthe indent just beginning.

FIG. 6 is a similar view showing the indent completed by compressing thecoils somewhat beyond the final shapes thereof.

FIG. 7 is a similar view showing the combined attening and indentingoperation completed and the coils released.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view of a modified form of the unit compressingapparatus showing a pair of moving converging belts instead of a press,the belts being constrained to compress the coiled wire unit.

FIG. 9 is a similar view of another modified form of the compressingapparatus which takes the form of rollers.

FlG. l() is an elevational view of the winding apparatus for Winding thelong coil about a border frame into rows and for interlacing the rows.

FIG. ll is a similar view showing the completion of the winding of oneset of rows and the partially wound unit lifted out of its holder readyfor turning in the direction of the'arrow preparatory to windingthesecond set of rows.

FIG. 12 is a side elevational view of FIG. l1.

FIG. 13 is a view similar to FIG. 1l showing the unit turned at rightangles and the winding of the rst row of the second set of rowscompleted.

FIG. 14 is an elevational view of one form of the distorted corner coilat the junction of two perpendicular rows to lock the junction againstdisplacement.

FIG. l5 is a similar view of a modified form of the distorted cornercoil.

FIG. 16 is an elevational view of the unit after it has been wound andbefore interlacing of the rows. y

The type of spacer to which the present invention pertains vis shown inFIG. l wherein the tinished spacer or cushion 20 comprises an innercoiled wire unit 21 and suitable open mesh covers 22 enclosing the unitand bound together by stitching (not shown) around the edges thereof.'The inner unit 21 includes the relatively thick border wire frame 23 andtwo intersecting sets 24 and 25 each of a number ofsubstantiallyparallel rows of coiled wire and a length 25 of such wirestrung around the border frame.

As best seen in FIGS. 2, 3, 14-16 where the rows intersect, the coilsare interlaced or forced into each other thereby being temporarily butinsutliciently rmly locked together by the inherent resiliency of thewirecoils'. To

attain a better lock at the row intersections as well as to reduce theheight of the spacer to an eiicient minimum, the initially circularcoils of the rows and border are all flattened and elongatedtransversely to an approximately ellipitical shape as shown in FIGS. 2and 5-9. At the same time, indents as 27 are made in the inner of theintersecting coils at those points where an outer and inner coil are incontact at the tops or bottoms thereof.

Various forms of apparatus may be employed to perform the ilattening andindenting operation. As shown more or less diagrammatically, theapparatus may be a press 28 (FIGS. 4-7), or a pair of moving conveyorbelts 29, 3l) backed by converging plates '31, 32 (FIG. 8), or

p Y 3 Y a series of cooperating rollers 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 68 and 39,40 (FIG. 9) spaced apart diminishing distances.

After the inner unitrhas been formed by winding a length of coiled wireabout a frame in the manner more thickness, carbon content, acquiredwork hardness, temper r any of Va considerable number of factorsgoverning resilience, then compression of the coils would be materiallyresisted and would cause only atemporary decrease in the length of theminor axis of the generally elliptical cross section of each coil andwould have no other permauent etect beyond llattening the coils to adiiferent permanent height. However, the wire material preferably hassuch low resilience as to permit a substantial amount of permanentdistortion of the coils when the wound unit is compressed to the depthshown in FIG. 6 which is somewhat less than theiinal depth or height ofy thec'oils Vshown in FIG. 7.

At those random or unpredictable points of contact between the highpoints 46, 47 of intersecting coils 48, 49 or the low points of contactof intersecting coils, the

Vouter coil as 48 is forced into the inner coil 49 in the manner of adie and'forms the indent 27 in the inner coil. The indent is of suchdepth that the outermost point of the outer coil is coplanar with theoutermost points ofthe inner coil thereby to form a comparatively leveltop on the unit with no projecting or outstanding wire. When the pressreleases the unit as in FlG. 7, the indent remains but the coils mayexpand slightly. Since the spacing between rows, the pitch of the coilsand the relation between the coils or" dierent rows may vary to aconsiderable extent, the points of contact between the crests orvalleysrof thecoils, or in other words between the outermost points ofintersecting coils, cannot be accurately determined or made uniform butare more or less haphazard and arranged at random with but littlecontrolover the exact positions thereof. v

Ofnce the indents are formed, it is obvious that accidental-movement ofthe-outer wire out of the indent is substantially resisted by theterminal resilience of the inner coil and the tendency of said coil toexpand-whereby the indent forms an additional lock for the intersectingcoils, making the 'entire unit firmer and less limp or Vless likely tosway and hence better able to withstand handling and wear;

As has been indicated, the two sets' 24l and 25 of rows' of coils arepreferably formed by winding a long coiled wire around the border wireor frame 23 to form one set 24 of rows arranged generally in onedirection and a secondrset 25 in a direction substantially perpendicularto the set 24. The frame v23 lbeing initially ope-n, an end thereof isrst inserted into the end portion 50 of the coiled wire and the coilsare strung along the frame, after which the frame is closed. Because ofthe extreme length of thecoiled wire, the winding of the rows ispreferably doneby rotating the borderframe and thereby advancing theVremainder of the length of coiled wire while maintaining itVsubstantially straight and unentangled.

The border frame may be manually or mechanically rotated, As shown inFIGS. lO-l3, the frame with the border coils strung thereon is clampedbetween the upper rotatable channel-shaped holder 52'and the similarlower holder 53 by rstrraising the upper holder against the actionVofthe spring 54 which urges the holder downwardly into frameclampngposition. The bracket 55 supports the shaft 56 of the upperholder for vertical and rotary movement 'and is also provided withnotches 57 spaced apart vertically and serving as gages to determineVthe spacing of lthe rows. The lower holder 53 may be continuouslyrotated in one direction, and stopped or reversed when desired under thecontrol of the operator, by the use of a suitable motor and ciutch (notshown) operating through the belt 51S and pulley SQ on the shaft 66 forthe holder.

The length of coiled wire may be held in the hand or passed through thetube 61 lined with suitable friction material to brake any too rapidadvance of the coils and to keep the coiled length taut. After theextreme end 62 of the coiled wire on the frame is secured to thebeginning of the first row 63 (FlG. l0) of coils, the coils constitutingthe rst row being behind and at the lower part of the frame, rotation ofthe holders is began in the direction of the arrow while the tube 6i isheld by the operator in the bottom one of `the notches 57 of the bracket55'. It will be noted that Ythe direction of rotation is counterclockwise in plan view because thepitch Vof the coils is that of a lefthand screw, that is, the coils recede from the observer in a counterclockwise direction as in a left hand screw. The first row 63 of coilsis stretched across and behind the frame vbefore rotation is begun.Atter the iirst half turn of theY frame, the first row is in front andthe second Vrow stretched out behind the frame. To apprise the operatorwhen each turn is about cornpleted, so that the tube 61 may be raised tothe next notch above in position to guide the coils into the next row, athin ribbon spring 64 extends'in both horizontal directions from theholder 52. The end 65 of the spring strikes the bracket 55 near the endof each half turn and makes a sound or creates a vibration heard or feltby the operator and constituting a signal, whereupon the operator shiftsthe tube 61 to the next notch. This operation is repeated until theentire rst set of rows has been wound around the frame, after whichrotation of the frame is stopped. The next operation is to lock the endcoil of the last row 66 of the iirst set and constituting the lbeginningof the-,second -set 25 of the rows of coils (FIGS. ll and 14) beforebeginning the winding of said second set. Such locking may be-performcdin diierent ways as shown for example in FIGS. 14 and l5, but in anycase, therlocking operation includes distorting the coil 67 at the endof the last row 66 in one way vor another. As best seen in FIG. 14, the'last coil 67 of the row 66 is locked into an adjacent coil as 68 of theborder coils 26 by bending said coil 67 more or less abruptly to form arelatively sharp hook or bend 69 preventing the locked coil 67 fromleaving the locking coil 68 under the stress put upon the row "66 whenthe direction of the rows is changed from one set to the other. The row66 is not carried around the border frame so that the direction ofwinding remains that of a left hand screw or left hand pitch. The firstrow 70 of the second set 25 is perpendicular to the last row 66 of therst set 24 and is on the same side of the frame. Both ends of the iirstrow 79 are locked on the same side of the frame,the last coil 67a beingdistorted similarly to the iirstl coil 67 and similarly locked into oneof the adjacent border coils. The ends of the row 79 being thus locked,the partly Wound unit is rotated a quarter turnin the direction of thearrow of FIG. 11. This may be doneV by first raising the unit out of thelower holder 53 as shown by the arrow of FIG. l2 against the action ofthe spring 54, after which Vthe frame is re-mounted in the holders-inthe position Yof FIG. 13. The tube 61Y is held inthe uppermost of thenotches 57 and rotation of the holder begun in the opposite direction(clockwise in plan view) to wind the second and succeeding rows acrossthe frame. The Winding then proceeds as for the first set of rows but inthe opposite direction and except that the tube 6i is moved downwardlynotch by notch instead of upwardly. When the winding of the second setof rows has beenA completed, the last coil of the last row is hooked toan adjacent coil of the border or other rows and the surplus length ofcoiled wire, if any, cut ott to complete the unit, which is removed fromthe holder. Y

The rows of the unit, when wound as described or in other directions asmay be suitable to secure the same pitch on the coils and the rows, arenot iirmly interlocked, but are somewhat bowed as shown in FIG. 16 eventhough the pitch of the rows and the coils are the same. lf such pitcheswere different, the rows would be far more greatly bowed and could notbe levelled or straightened owing -to the terminal resilience of the endcoils of the rows, even though such resilience is minimized by theselection of substantially non-resilient wire strong enough to bear theweight of a person when used in the spacer. In other words, the coilswould lie down temporarily under vertical pressure, instead of beingcrushed or flattened or deformed, and the coils would then spring backsubstantially into the initial bowed positions thereof to form a thicklumpy unit instead of a level one. However, when the winding is in theproper direction as determined by the rotation of the frame and themovement of the coiled row vertically, the coils are readily interlacedwithout deformation by raising the hinged plate 71 (FIG. l0) placing theunit on the table 72 and swinging the plate 71 down on the unit tostrike the outstanding rows a sharp blow, thereby levelling the upperand lower surfaces of the unit. The llattening and indenting of thecoils may now proceed as hereinbefore described in connection with FIGS.2-9.

Referring now to FIG. 15, the last row 66 of the iirst set 24 is thereshown in a vertical position at the left of the unit, the partly woundunit having been turned not only as shown in FIG. 13 but also up sidedown to carry the end coil 72 (corresponding to the coil 67 of FIGS. 11and 13) of the row 66 to a position near the bottom and at the fron-t ofthe unit. The last coil 72 starting at the front is partly straightenedto remove any tendency thereof to become unruly and to stay upright. Thecoiled wire is then carried a half turn around the border frame to therear of the unit being suiciently distorted to permit winding of thesecond set of rows perpendicular to the rst set without changing thedirection of rotation of the frame. The winding therefore is of a letthand pitch as required by the pitch of the coils.

It will now be clear that by employing the proper direction of rotationfor the frame, starting the winding at the top or bottom of the frameand with the coiled length in front of or behind the frame, locking oneor both corner coils at the change from one set to the other by properdistortion of such coils, it becomes possible to attain initialinterlacing and later permanent attening of the coils without danger ofthe incidence of unruly and unmanageable outstanding lumps. It will alsobe seen that while the attening operation alone is effective to lock therows together by increasing the horizontal diameters of the coils andwedging them in place, the additional lock in the form of indentsrenders the unit firmer and less limp and therefore more etlicient.

While certain specific forms of the invention have herein been shown anddescribed, various obvious changes may be made therein without departingfrom the spirit of the invention defined by the appended claims.

We claim: Y

1. In a coiled wire unit for a Ventilating spacer, a irst set of coiledwire rows arranged in one general direction, a second set of coiledrwirerows arranged in a direction generally perpendicular to and intersectingthe lirst set of rows whereby certain coils of intersecting rowsintersect each other, the axes of the rows being coplanar and arrangedin a plane substantially half way between the crests and valleys of thecoils, random crests and valleys of the inner of the intersecting coilsbeing indented toward the plane of said axes by an amount substantiallyequal to the thickness of the wire of the coils at the points where thecrests of intersecting coils meet and where the valleys of intersectingcoils meet to provide locking indents at said points, said indentsreceiving respectively the crests and valleys of the outer of theintersecting coils, the inner coils having suiicient resilience to exertoutward pressure upon and to resist outward movement of the respectiveouter crests and valleys out of the indents thereby locking said crestsand valleys against accidental relative displacement.

2. The unit of claim 1, the rows being bent from a single length ofcoiled wire, the end coil of the last row of the lirst set of rows beingdistorted out of its normal shape and interlocked with an adjacent coilnot in said row.

3. The unit of claim 2, a border frame, the length of coiled wire havingthe end portion thereof strung on the frame and having the remainderthereof Wound in half turns around the frame to form the rows.

4. In a coiled wire unit for a Ventilating spacer, a iirst set of coiledwire rows arranged in one general direction, a second set of coiled wirerows arranged in a direction generally perpendicular to Vandintersecting the lirst set of rows, the axes of the rows beingsubstantially coplanar and arranged in a plane approximately half waybetween the crests and valleys of the coils whereby certain coils ofintersecting rows intersect each other, random crests and valleys of theinner of the intersecting coils being indented toward said plane by anamount substantially equal to the thickness of the wire of the unit andreceiving respectively the crests and valleys of the outer of theintersecting coils whereby the intersecting coils are locked togetheragainst accidental displacement and the outermost adjacent points of thecrests are coplanar, and the outermost adjacent points of the valleysare coplanar.

5. In a coiled wire unit for a Ventilating spacer, a border frame, alength of coiled wire of suiciently low resilience to retain the shapeto which said wire is bent under pressure exceeding the elastic limitthereof, an end portion of said length being strung on said trame, theremainder of said length being around the lframe and comprising two'intersecting sets of rows, one set being perpendicular to the other setwhere coils of one set intersect coils of the other set at randompoints, the end coil of the last row of the first set of rows having arelatively sharp bend therein passing around the wire of an adjacentcoil of the aforesaid end portion and being locked thereto, the coilsbeing of attened elliptical shape and the inner of the intersectingcoils having an indent therein at the crests and valleys thereof, theindents receiving the respective crests and valleys of the outer of theintersecting coils.

6. The unit of claim 5, a border frame, the rows being wound in halfturns around the frame from a single length of wire, and an end portionof said length being strung on the frame, the end coil of the last rowof the rst set of rows being distorted out of its normal shape andinterlocked with an adjacent coil of said end portion.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,471,777 Reinartz May 31, 1949 2,747,619 Buttner May 29, 1956 2,801,680Crane Aug. 6, 1957 2,801,681 Crane Aug. 6, 1957 2,804,912 Pickard Sept.3, 1957

